Northeast - Finally moved to DC :) and lots of great things happened for me!

First thing first, I Moved to MD 2 months ago and spent the entire time travelling with my family and friends to catch up with them. I have also been working on finding a job and to apply for Gallaudet Deaf University.

The great new is that when I turned in my application, I had no scholarship and was going to depend on financial aid/student loan. But.... as soon as I turned it in, the director of admission reviewed it and approved my acceptance into Gallaudet PLUS she gave me a scholarship (based on my grade and record) right on the spot that can cover all of my tuition for the entire 4 years! So I've been on cloud 9 since friday when that happened :D

So what this mean here is that I will be living in the dormitory there for at least a semester or two. I'm expecting to room with a few good friend off campus after this semester. So now I have to research on where is the better roads to ride on around there and near the metro (gallaudet is only a few blocks from the nearest metro station). I'm also having some difficulties trying to find out where is the best bike shop for price/service in the city. I tried to get to a few of these bike shop and didn't really seem like it too much for some reason. I'm hoping to find a entry lvl road bike for now. I may not be able to afford it right now but with the scholarship, I'll have some more of my money freed up over the next few months so I want to research in advance where to shop and which bike to check out.

I'm aware that there is a few sites online for the DC area but they seems to be mostly routes and group/club thing. What I need info on right now is where is the best Bike shop in DC (or other town near the metro, I don't have a vehicle yet)?

Thanks in advance for whatever info you can provide :D

P.S.
the google map location is,
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=800+Florida+Ave+NE,+Washington,+DC+20002&sll=38.907332,-76.995878&sspn=0.017866,0.038452&ie=UTF8&ll=38.908651,-76.994505&spn=0.008532,0.019226&z=16

800 Florida Ave NE
Washington, DC 20002

Welcome to the land of Over Priced Housing, and Keeping up with the Jones's. Beware of the ever multiplying BBW ;).

Congrats on Gallaudet!! From everything I have heard (sorry :) ) it is a most amazing school. A close cousin of mine graduated from there and he really loved the place.

I was worried for a moment there but it seems that I would be allowed to bring my bike up to my room provided I can keep it out of the other roommate's way. Gonna have to look around for a bike stand or something that won't damage the wall/ceiling.

I'm liking Gallaudet more and more as I stay here :) I just need to do the immunization then I can finally get the classes picked out and registered. I was just approved Friday and the offices was closed over the weekend so now I'm at Gallaudet having done as much as I could do for the paperwork and research. Hopefully I can be qualified to be included in the Honor Program :) The biggest downer though is the fact that I will have to pay for the books up front but my mom says that she knows someone at work that can help me get the same books for much cheaper :) Let hope it keep going along smoothly.

Still, nobody pointed out any bike shop I should try to check out in DC? maybe it would be better to get the bike from outside the DC since I've seen a few reviews complaining about how the shops in the city are such a rip-off?

pixie said it best. its expensive here!

Welcome to the area. As far as bike shops go there are a few chains like Performance and Contes. In DC there is Capitol Hill Bikes which is good. Also Big Wheel bikes and City bikes. Good Luck.

Welcome to the area. As far as bike shops go there are a few chains like Performance and Contes. In DC there is Capitol Hill Bikes which is good. Also Big Wheel bikes and City bikes. Good Luck.

Capitol Hill Bikes is my favorite D.C. shop and is probably the one closest to Gallaudet, to boot.

Welcome to DC. I'm out in the suburban wastelands of Northern VA, so I have no 1st-hand experience with DC shops but have heard good things about Capitol Hill Bikes and City Bikes. You may also want to check out the BikeWashingtonDC group on Yahoo for local info, also bikewashington.org and waba.org for local cycling info and advocacy.

Thank you all for the informations :) unfortunately I've just started my first day at Gallaudet last night so I'll be pretty busy from now on so I may not be able to get some times off to look at these stores for a while yet :-/ at least the school seems to be very bike friendly :D

Keep these info coming please :)

Another shop worth checking out is Arrow Bicycles in Hyattsville, MD. It was born of a couple guys who left Capitol Hill bikes to start their own shop. They're awesome.

Welcome to the area. As far as bike shops go there are a few chains like Performance and Contes. In DC there is Capitol Hill Bikes which is good. Also Big Wheel bikes and City bikes. Good Luck.

I'm a big fan of Citybikes (Adams Morgan). Revolution in Georgetown is also pretty good.

I like Capitol Hill Bikes for in-town DC bike shop. My far and away favorite bike shop ever, anywhere, however, is Proteus in College Park near the University of Maryland campus. It's not right on a Metro, but it is on the bus line.

http://www.proteusbicycles.com/

Worth the hassle of getting there (it's only about 6 or 7 miles from Galludet, by the way, easily accessible by taking the Anacostia Trails to College Park).

Congratulations on your success!

All these stores sound pretty cool :)

UPDATE: apparently there is a deaf cycling club! I'll be communicating with one of the staff for the resident life office because she is involved with it :) so give me a little while, I may be coming back to the cycling scene earlier than planned! :D I'll have to talk with her a bit more since there may be a particular store with an employee who knows signs or happens to be more deaf-friendly than others.

Thanks for these info on the stores. I'll ask her about these store and see which one would she think is best for me to at least check out.

I also like Video 2000 on 14th and Rhode Island and Bicycle Pro Shop in Georgetown (right next to Revolution Cycles)

Okay, I got some hybrid bike from the PX express on fort meade. Not the best but it is good enough for now. I have been stopping by some bike store called "Laurel Bicycle Center" (http://www.bicyclefun.com/ extremely basic site though). I plan to save up for a proper road bike next year. However, due to the college cost and other debts, I'm not too sure if I could do that :-/ gonna have to wait and see. Do anybody knows of any good bike store near ft. meade? (fort meade is just west of that bike store)

Has anyone been to the Hudson Trail Outfitters up by Tenleytown? Is it good?

Do anybody knows of any good bike store near ft. meade? (fort meade is just west of that bike store)
If you get down to College Park you've got a choice of three bike stores. There's Proteus Bicycles, College Park Bicycles, and REI (an outdoors store with plenty of bikes). REI is only three quarters of a mile from the Greenbelt Metro by foot or bike if you use the pedestrian underpass of the tracks. Proteus is a mile and a quarter or so. Proteus is a smaller shop, but I'd recommend the service and staff there highly. College Park Bicycles is closer to the campus and the College Park Metro stop.

I prefer good services and staffs myself since I'm deaf myself. I find that it is easier for me to get what I need and save moneys on repairs with these in mind (I've been ripped off and had bought damaged items because of impatient employees in the past so I'm particularly careful about this). So thanks :) I'm planning to check that proteus store sometime later on if I do have extra time when I come back from trying out the routes to greenbelt.